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J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

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Famous J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

KnowsShouldWellsBookPartyHalfFamilyFantasyKnowingDrinkDeserveRingsBeerNovelistsFellowshipDeservingAmbiguousFunny FriendFrodoFellowship Of The RingFrodo BagginsLiking SomeoneLord Of The RingGreat HobbitI Liked You
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out loud of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring' and they'll say 'Oh yes, that's one of my favorite stories.”

PeopleIfsKnowsYearsMeanStillsBookStoriesBigsSongCoursesBlackWonderRedLettersMy FavoriteRingsTalesLoudFrodoTwo TowersBig BookSamwiseRed And Black
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”

KnowsWorldYearsMayEarthEvilFieldsMastersCleanWeatherTidesMiddle EarthReturn Of The KingEvil WorldUprooting
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice. "I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way.”

IfsKnowsWayHeartLongSaidMightLastsSidesVoiceEffortFilledLongingRingsSpokesOverwhelmingDreadDoomFrodoSmall VoiceForeseen
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”

KnowsWorldWayWantEndsSometimesStoriesLordDarknessHappenedDangerShadowRingsPassingPassingsTowersWorth Fighting ForSun ShinesFrodoFrodo BagginsTwo TowersThings Worth Fighting ForSamwiseGreat HobbitFantasy StoriesSam Gamgee
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can't live long on the heights.' 'No,' said Merry. 'I can't. Not yet, at any rate. But at least, Pippin, we can now see them, and honour them. It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not.”

KnowsFirstsLongSaidStillsI CanHigherGardenRootsRateDearDeeperHeightSoilHonourMerryPippinShireDear Me
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“And yet, Eomer, I say to you that she loves you more truly than me, for you she loves and knows; but in me she loves only a shadow and a thought: a hope of glory and great deeds, and lands far from the fields of Rohan. - Aragorn to Eomer, of Eowyn”

KnowsLandLove YouFieldsGloryShadowDeedsLove You MoreEowynRohan
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny. [...] I do not believe that darkness will endure!”

KnowsMindBelieveHeartEndsReasonLightJoyEvilDarknessMy HeartHappeningsEndureDenyThe End Of The DayNo ReasonWakingLimbs
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“I am old, Gandalf. I don't look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts. Well-preserved indeed! Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can't be right. I need a change, or something.”

IfsKnowsNeedsFeelsWellsLooksHeartMeanHas BeensToo MuchMy HeartTiredBreadNeed A ChangeFellowship Of The RingI Need A Change
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel.”

IfsKnowsShouldFirstsHardEvilHouseSpeakWhiteHealingTalkingPathSawsFlowerProudFairsStandingQueensUnhappinessSteelDoomLiliesMaidensEowynWhite Flowers
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.”

ThinkingKnowsWayWellsMomentsUseHandsSeemsLyingCertainFallFeltCareersParticularColdMetsTinyRingsPocketsSwimmingMetalsTunnelsGood WayTurning PointsLying On The Floor
Book:The Hobbit
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“One felt as if there was an enormous well behind them. Filled up with ages of memory and long, slow, steady thinking; but their surface was sparkling with the present : like sun shimmering on the outer leaves of a vast tree, or on the ripples of a very deep lake. I don’t know, but I t felt as if something that grew in the ground—asleep, you might say, or just feeling itself as something between roof-tip and leaf-tip, between deep earth and sky had suddenly waked up, and was considering you with the same slow care that it had given to its own inside affairs for endless years.”

IfsThinkingKnowsYearsWellsLongFeelingsMightCareAgeEarthGivenFeltMemoriesBehindsSunTreeSkyGrewFilledAffairSurfaceEndlessEnormousLakesSteadyRoofConsideringLeafsVery DeepRippleSparklingEarth And SkyFilled Up
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Mercy!" cried Gandalf. "If the giving of knowledge is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more should you like to know?" "The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-Earth and Over-heave and of the Sundering Seas," laughed Pippin. "Of course! What less?”

IfsKnowsGivingShouldWholeEarthCoursesNamesStarsSeaMiddleMercyCuresLaughedCriedLiving ThingsMiddle EarthTwo TowersPippin
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death. . . . . . (quoting an obituary) 'There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident, and even if he knows it he would sense to it an unjustifiable violation.' Well, you may agree with the words or not, but those are the key spring of The Lord Of The Rings”

IfsKnowsMenWorldHumansWellsMayWholeStoriesHappensDiesNaturalLordOne ThingKeysSpringAgreeAccidentsEvery ManRingsWhole WorldViolationInevitabilityQuotingObituaryNatural DeathInevitability Of Death
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.”

IfsKnowsFeelsShouldLongHas BeensMightLyingFeltBehindsFeetStupidSafeComfortableBe GoodWanderFirmDullIf I CouldDragonsInvasionEarthquakesBearableFellowship Of The RingShire
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“All the same, I should like it all plain and clear," said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf's recommendation. "Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth"--by which he meant: "What am I going to get out of it ? and am I going to come back alive?”

PeopleKnowsShouldSaidClearWiseAliveRiskPocketsExpensesReservedPrudentRecommendationsRemuneration
Book:The Hobbit (Enhanced Edition)
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“I don't know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back. It isn't right to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want - I don't rightly know what I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.”

IfsKnowsWayWantFeelsKindLongI CanDifferentEndsSeemsLastsLyingNightTurnsDarknessKnow HowMountainDragonsLast NightUnderstand MeLong RoadShire
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?”

IfsKnowsWorldStillsInspirationCareNightGrowsCourageFailingMinesFlowerBearsTasksFruitWorthyRealmsPerilStewardsDays To ComeWorthy Things
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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